Friday, October 16, 2009

Laci Ponders the NRA

Laci the Dog posted an interesting essay first questioning the NRA's role in maintaining the status quo and then sliding into an analysis of Bloomberg's sting operation. And in covering these sweeping subjects, I can assure the faint of heart there are no death threats or profanity anywhere to be seen.

For shock value, they may not rank with the videos released last month showing ACORN workers giving tax advice to a couple of undercover investigators posing as a prostitute and her pimp. But New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's covert recordings of what really goes on at gun shows are appalling nonetheless

Not to quibble, but I thought Bloomberg's videos were extremely shocking.

New-gun retailers are closely regulated, with laws forcing them to obtain licenses, keep transaction records so that guns used in crimes can be traced, and perform background checks on buyers to ensure they aren't legally barred from owning guns. Convicted felons, drug addicts, the mentally ill and illegal immigrants are among those who fall into that category. Meanwhile, nonprofessional used-gun traders are subject to none of those requirements, although even resellers are forbidden from transactions in which they know the buyer couldn't pass a background check (something Bloomberg's investigators caught on tape repeatedly).

I really hate to quibble, but I really don't see how Laci can say these guys are "closely regulated." Aren't they the ones that the ATF can only inspect once every ten years or something like that, due to lack of manpower. Aren't they the ones whose inventory goes years without anyone wanting to match it to the sales receipts.

In other words, I say the problem exists even before we get to the gun show. These shady gun dealers are covered by my Famous 10% theory.

What's your opinion? Is Lacy right in pointing out that prohibited persons can easily take advantage of the system the way it works? Is it therefore a fair conclusion that the NRA and the rest of the gun owners who fight so hard to keep the status quo are to blame? Laci explains this, at least according to the title of the post, by the fact that the membership base is made up of criminals. I thought the actual criminals were a fairly small percentage, but it's the law-abiding who enable them that I see as the real problem.

10 comments:

Non-dealers (I.E. private individuals) cannot perform background checks, as they have no access to the NICS.

What was seen on the video were Federally licensed dealers allegedly making illegal sales.

If that is indeed the case then such dealers should be prosecuted. The buyers should also be prosecuted, as they are engaging in an ILLEGAL SALE.

That's right MikeB, Bloomberg's "sting" operators are committing federal felonies. Bloomberg is hiring people to go out and commit felonies. They are not law enforcement, they are private citizens no different than you or I.

Shouldn't he and the buyers he hired be prosecuted? If I did exactly what Bloomberg & his buddies are doing it'd be a felony.

What additional laws are going to stop this from happening? If people are committing federal felonies then what we have is a failure of enforcement.

"Not to mention they will call you all sorts of names if you disagree with them."

Then in the very next sentence of her post calls us "assholes." I lost track of the number of pejoratives she used in her post.

Her hypocrisy is laughable, as is the fact that she.

1. Does not link to others when she attributes something to them.

2. Does not post the citation which she claims is being wrongly interpreted. Of course putting the plain text right there in her post would make it convenient for any reader to see just how flawed her argument is, so I can't blame her for not including the citation.

That's not Laci's work, but an LA Times article. see here. Laci just chose to plagiarize the entire thing because her (his?) only contribution to the conversation was to take a pot shot at NRA members.

"Nonprofessional used-gun traders" were licensed and did background checks just like the professionals until the Brady Law made it harder and more expensive to be licensed to do so.

On the other hand the NRA has sponsored legislation that would have allowed non-dealers access to the NICS background check system.

So Laci can ponder the NRA all she wishes. What she should ponder is why anti-gunners made it harder for "nonprofessional used-gun traders" to do background checks while the NRA wants to make it easier. It almost sounds like the anti-gunners have a hidden agenda.

The NRA holds the status quo because they see the game that's being played by the anti-gunners. They see that the goal of the anti-gunners is to reduce the number of people who can sell guns thus reducing the number of guns sold.

Any legislation that closes the "gun show loophole" and makes it easier to sell guns is rejected by the anti-gunners. But if it closes the "gun show loophole" and makes it harder to sell guns (like the Lautenberg scheme), they embrace it.

It looks like their real issue isn't with the "loophole", but with something else. It's almost like they have a hidden agenda?

Then in the very next sentence of her post calls us "assholes." I lost track of the number of pejoratives she used in her post.

Her hypocrisy is laughable, as is the fact that she.

1. Does not link to others when she attributes something to them.

2. Does not post the citation which she claims is being wrongly interpreted. Of course putting the plain text right there in her post would make it convenient for any reader to see just how flawed her argument is, so I can't blame her for not including the citation.

I guess that makes Laci the Dog a left wing version of Mike Vanderboegh :)

I don't know that any of these dealers were licensed dealers. I thought the point of the nonsense was to show how private sellers operate outside of the law.

Regardless, these videos don't show any actual crimes. Are there really gun transfers going on or are they just taping them talking about it? I don't recall seeing any actual transfers on the tapes.

Further, were there really any crimes committed at all? If the buyers were not prohibited persons, then there is no crime. If the buyers were prohibited persons then they are guilty of felonies as well as Bloomberg for conspiracy.

I think these videos did what they were supposed to do, hype and allude that illegal activity could be taking place and the media was more than willing to accommodate for shock value. Looks like they hooked Laci too as she was shocked and appalled watching the what if crime-like drama.

The reason that the ATF does not investigate any more than they do at these shows is because that they have already determined that gun shows are not a significant source of guns for criminals.